


Cave In

by Ani272



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Claustrophobia, Dubious Consent, First Time Blow Jobs, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, M/M, Public Blow Jobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:28:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29801556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ani272/pseuds/Ani272
Summary: Sheppard & Lorne's teams join forces to try & track down an elusive Ancient energy signature offworld, but naturally, things go wrong.
Relationships: Evan Lorne/John Sheppard, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Cave In

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work, so please be gentle with me! If you think I should have tagged for anything else, please let me know in the comments. I should mention that in this universe, the P-90s do not have lights on them! A huge thank you to Salchat for the speedy beta reading - any remaining errors are entirely my own, especially as I like to tinker a little every time I re-read the story. Thanks and enjoy!

Major Evan Lorne left the infirmary, his post-mission check-up complete, and headed for the control room to debrief Dr Weir and Colonel Sheppard on his team’s mission to P4G-834. 

“So, Major,” Sheppard said as he arrived, “Dr Weir said you couldn’t find the energy signature you were hunting. What can you tell us about it?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure it was Ancient, Sir,” Evan said. “But it just kept...moving.”

Sheppard raised his eyebrows at Lorne, indicating what he thought of that remark.

“I know, Sir. I thought it was weird too. It was very strong, it just… wouldn’t stay still. We spent the whole day hunting it, but it was pretty elusive. I don’t know how to describe it. Your super-gene might be able to pinpoint its location - I certainly couldn’t. And I think Dr McKay would be interested in finding it.” Evan knew he sounded beaten, but it had been a long and frustrating day of hunting high and low, and eventually conceding defeat. 

“Okay,” Sheppard agreed. “0800hrs tomorrow then. We’ll take both teams, since you’ll know where you’ve already been.” 

Dr Weir nodded, making a note on her laptop, and smiled kindly at Lorne. “You look exhausted, Major. I hope you have an early night planned.”

Lorne huffed out a laugh. “Yep, my plans include a hot shower and a long sleep, Ma’am,” he said, smiling as he left the office. 

Evan was feeling refreshed and eager once more, when both teams stepped through the wormhole the next morning. Within minutes of arriving, Dr McKay stated that the energy signature was definitely Ancient, and was strong enough to be a well charged ZedPM, his eyes lighting up in avarice at the thought.

Evan smiled at his excitement. He knew a lot of people in Atlantis struggled with Dr McKay’s personality. He was abrasive to the point of painfulness, had no social graces whatsoever, and was contemptuous of idiots, riding straight over everyone around him, berating anyone foolish enough to approach him with sub-standard work or unworkable ideas. But he was also brilliant – genius level brilliant – and had saved their collective bacon on more occasions than Lorne cared to count. Lack of social skills could be forgiven where someone regularly saved your life, and Lorne had taken the time to observe and try to work out what made McKay tick. He knew that Colonel Sheppard liked him, and the Colonel wasn’t generally given to liking people with difficult personalities – Kavanaugh was a great example of that! So there had to be more to McKay than the casual observer saw. 

Over time, Evan had realised that McKay, whilst outwardly acerbic, actually had a strong sense of loyalty to those he deemed worthy, and cared a great deal for the health and wellbeing of the people for whom he was responsible – even if he never told them that. Watching him cope with the loss of his scientists, through misfortune and attack, you could see how much it hurt him. He seemed to have a really caring nature, hidden beneath the layers of carefully crafted barbs and spikes that were designed to keep people at arms’ length. Evan had concluded that McKay must have dealt with a lot of bad shit in his life, and had built himself some caustic armour to keep others out. If no-one got close, no-one could hurt him.

Smiling at the Chief Science Officer’s ZPM-induced joy, he led the way up to the top of the first ridge, where they’d started out yesterday.

Seven hours later, they had criss-crossed the entire plateau, up and down the various hills, traversed a few of the canyons and had eventually decided that the energy pattern was coming from inside the latest mountain they’d approached. 

Sheppard was looking decidedly grim as he faced the opening to the cave system, but as Lorne came up alongside him, he said, “It feels strongest here – at the moment!” He rolled his eyes. Every time they came close, the signature had danced away, just as Lorne had described yesterday. It was very frustrating.

“I agree, Sir. So, I guess we go inside and follow it.”

Sheppard had looked uncertainly over towards McKay, and Lorne remembered that Rodney was claustrophobic. “Ah, shall we leave Dr McKay outside, Sir? I can leave Reed and Rivers with him.”

Sheppard snorted. “I don’t think he’ll go for that. Although I don’t think he’s going to want to go in, either.”

Lorne watched as his CO sauntered across to where Dr McKay was gazing at his tablet, pressing things on the screen every so often. He couldn’t hear their conversation, but he could see Rodney was shaking his head, pointing at the cave and looking particularly belligerent. Clearly, he didn’t like whatever the Colonel had said.

After a few minutes, Sheppard returned to Lorne’s side. “Okay, then. Let’s head in.”

The weather, which had been warm and sunny when they’d arrived, had been worsening throughout the day. Clouds had started to roll in and now the sky was blanketed from horizon to horizon with low, dark clouds. The wind had picked up as well and was whistling around them. Every so often, an ominous roll of thunder drowned out their voices, and now Lorne could see lightning sparking through the clouds.

“Might be best to hurry, Sir,” Evan said. “I think it’s about to rain.”

Even as he spoke the first raindrops were felt, and everyone started for the cave entrance. It was dark inside, and Lorne fished in his tac vest, finding and switching on his torch. Others had done the same, and the cave was lit by beams of light, darting in all corners. Towards the back, on the right-hand side, there was a tunnel leading away into the mountain side. 

“Corporals, you remain here and keep watch,” Sheppard said to Reed and Rivers, members of Lorne’s team. “Ronon, Lorne, you take point; Rodney, Teyla in the middle; Coughlin and I’ll be on our six,” Sheppard said, as he pointed to the tunnel.

Just then a bolt of lightning hit the ground outside the cave, sparking a small fire that was quickly doused by the rain. 

Looking out for a moment at the savage weather, Lorne turned to follow Ronon into the tunnel, noting it was wide enough at this point for two people abreast. After a few twists and turns, the tunnel began to narrow, and he let Ronon take the lead. They followed the tunnel, and the energy signature, for several minutes before the tunnel widened out, and they found themselves in a room roughly three metres square, with a couple of tunnels opening off it. 

As they all clustered into the cave, Lorne turned and said, “I think it’s stronger that way,” pointing to the left-hand tunnel. It was much narrower than the one on the right, and the roof was lower too. 

Sheppard went to stand at the entrance to the wider tunnel, looking into the inky blackness, before moving across to the narrower tunnel Lorne had suggested. After a few moments, he turned and nodded. “What do you think, Rodney?”

I _think _the Ancients were certifiably insane!” he snarked. His eyes darted around the narrow confines of the cave, looking restless and uncomfortable. “Why create something that does this? They were clearly-” Sheppard cut him off.__

____

“Left- or right-hand tunnel, McKay?” he asked.

____

__Rodney stopped talking and dropped his eyes back to his tablet. “Left-hand,” he said, “although it’d be just our luck that this tunnel will sudden turn away and the right-hand one would have led us straight to it!”_ _

____

__Sheppard clapped him on the back, “If that happens, we’ll come back and try the right-hand one.”_ _

____

__“Oh, yes, because clearly I want to spend hours wandering around inside a mountain trying to find a stupid energy signature that keeps moving,” Rodney said, his discomfort with the surroundings obvious to all._ _

____

__“Come on then,” Sheppard said, and Lorne moved immediately into the tunnel. Ronon reached in, hooked a hand in his tac vest and pulled him backwards out of the tunnel, frowned at him, and then led the way. Lorne rolled his eyes and followed behind._ _

____

__15 minutes later, they reached a dead end. There was a widening, a sort of bulbous bulge at the end, but you couldn’t really call it a cave. Evan looked up at the roof, noticing lots of cracks in the rock. There was nothing here to indicate any sort of device or storage area, no consoles, nothing Ancient-looking at all. It was a cave, rock walls, rock ceiling, sandy floors. Nothing._ _

____

__He turned in a 360-degree arc, seeking with his gene as well as his eyes. But he came up completely blank._ _

____

__A massive clap of thunder was heard suddenly, booming through the cave, even though they were well inside the mountain, and some of the sand in the cracks above them started to filter down._ _

____

__“I think that’s our queue,” Sheppard said, looking over at McKay. Rodney’s eyes were wide with fear, looking upwards at the roof._ _

____

__“Everybody out,” Sheppard continued. Because they had all been moving around in the dead-end bulge, Ronon, Teyla and Coughlin were closest to the entrance, and they immediately made their way back into the small tunnel, Rodney following closely on their heels, with Sheppard behind him, and Lorne bringing up the rear._ _

____

__It was as they were crossing back across the first interior cave they’d found, that disaster struck. Several more huge thunderclaps had been audible as they’d made their way back through the narrow winding tunnel, and now another, even louder clap was heard, and the roof started to cave in. Ronon, Teyla and Coughlin were across the cave, a couple of metres into the tunnel that lead outwards, but Rodney was only halfway across the room, Sheppard trailing him and Lorne just exiting the narrow dead-end tunnel._ _

____

__As the roof started to come down, Sheppard threw himself on Rodney, knocking them both to the ground. Lorne also went to ground, covering his head with his arms and laying curled up on the ground, hoping to avoid being hit by falling rock._ _

____

__The sound was over-whelming and Lorne wished he could cover his ears, but several pieces of rock – not too big, had struck him already, and he was not about to risk his head just to save his hearing._ _

____

__After a minute or more, the noise subsided and the rock seemed to settle, nothing more coming down._ _

____

__Cautiously, Evan moved his arms and lifted his head. It was pitch black and he couldn’t see a thing. He realised he’d dropped his torch when the rockfall had begun. “Colonel?” he called. “McKay?”_ _

____

__“Here,” Sheppard responded, a little breathlessly._ _

____

__Evan reached into his tac vest and brought out a glowstick, cracking it and throwing it gently in front of him once it started to glow. He could see Sheppard, still lying on McKay a little way ahead._ _

____

__He crawled carefully forward. “Are you injured, Sir?” he asked._ _

____

__“Not much,” Sheppard responded, and then Evan heard Rodney’s voice, “You can get off me now, Sheppard. I think you’ve squashed me flat enough.”_ _

____

__“There’s a rock on my back, McKay. Give Lorne a moment to move it,” Sheppard said, and Lorne crawled up next to the men, seeing the chunk of rock that had fallen, blanketing Sheppard’s back. He levered it up and off to the side, hearing it crash against other rocks, but at least it had given Sheppard the freedom to move._ _

____

__He carefully rolled towards Lorne, and then sat up. Rodney sat up at the same time._ _

____

__“Injuries?” Sheppard asked._ _

____

__“Scratches, bumps and bruises, Sir. Nothing of significance,” Lorne reported._ _

____

__“Same,” Sheppard said, rubbing his shoulder, and moving it around. “McKay?”_ _

____

__Rodney was looking around at the darkness and his eyes were wide with terror. “We’re blocked in,” he said, his voice quavering. “Sheppard, we’re… we’re stuck in here! We’re buried alive!” he said, his voice rising hysterically._ _

____

__“McKay, get a grip,” Sheppard said firmly. “It’s okay. Reed and Rivers know where we are. So do Teyla and Ronon.”_ _

____

__Lorne spared a thought for his teammate and the two Pegasus natives, just a few metres ahead of them, inside the tunnel that led to the outside. He hoped they’d been far enough forward not to be caught by the rockfall. There must have been a lightning strike directly overhead to have brought down all this rock._ _

____

__“If they weren’t killed!” Rodney said, his voice reflecting his terror. “It’s so dark in here,” he fumbled with his tac vest, pulling out his supply of glowsticks. But before he could snap them, Sheppard’s hand closed around his._ _

____

__“No, Rodney, we don’t know for sure how long it’ll be before rescue comes. We can’t snap them all at once.” His voice was gentle, understanding. He slipped the sticks out of Rodney’s hand and slid them into a pocket in his own vest._ _

____

__“We’re okay. We’re not injured. There’s a lot of air in here. We have people on the outside who know where we are. We’re going to be rescued. It’s all going to be okay.”_ _

____

__Lorne noticed that Sheppard had given up the hard-line stance of “get a grip” he would have used with any of the military personnel, and had moved straight along to “calm and soothe the freaked-out civilian.”_ _

____

__Sheppard had one hand on Rodney’s arm, holding him in place, and with the other, he tapped his radio. “Sheppard to Reed?” There was only static. “This is Colonel Sheppard, is anyone receiving?” More static. Lorne tried his own radio but with no better success._ _

____

__As Sheppard and Lorne exchanged a glance, McKay pushed Sheppard’s hand off his arm and started to stand up, looking around, clearly freaked out. Another boom of thunder sounded, and more sand came sifting down from the ceiling. “We have to get out, we have to get out now,” Rodney said, stumbling his way across to the rockfall that blocked their exit. “I can’t stay in here, the walls are getting closer, there’s not enough air, we’re going to die, we have to get out…”_ _

____

__Lorne didn’t know what to do. He’d never been near someone having a severe claustrophobic attack, and certainly not a claustrophobic person who was now essentially buried alive in a tiny cave under a mountain. He hoped Sheppard would know how to calm Rodney down._ _

____

__Sheppard pulled out a second glow stick and cracked it, putting it right next to McKay. “Rodney,” he said, and when that had no effect at all on Rodney’s litany of death, he repeated a little louder, “Rodney!”._ _

____

__“No, Colonel, you don’t understand!” Rodney said, “The walls are getting closer, we’re going to be crushed to death, we have to get out.” He was pawing at the rock with his bare hands, his nails breaking and blood starting to show where he was tearing his skin. Evan stood and moved closer, knowing he had to do something, but not sure what._ _

____

__Then he saw the Colonel suddenly reach out his hand towards McKay, and he thought he was going to slap his face. But instead, Sheppard ran his hand around the back of McKay’s head, turning it towards him, and brought his face up to McKay’s, fitting their mouths together._ _

____

__Lorne was stunned at what he was seeing. McKay was still trying to talk, even with Sheppard’s lips pressed to his, and Lorne saw Sheppard take advantage of McKay’s open mouth to stick his tongue in, licking at the inside of McKay’s mouth. Slowly Rodney stopped talking and started taking notice._ _

____

__Evan was taking notice too. A flush of warmth ran through his body at what he was seeing, and when he noticed his CO’s hands moving down, away from Rodney’s face to his belt buckle, that flush of warmth started to centre in his lower regions._ _

____

__It seemed that that was happening to Rodney too, as Sheppard unbuttoned his BDU’s and slipped his hand inside, moving it up and down, obviously stroking McKay’s erection to firmness. Within moments, Sheppard was drawing Rodney’s cock out of his boxers, and he stopped kissing him and moved down, fitting his mouth over the head of Rodney’s cock, and starting to bob up and down in an unmistakable fashion._ _

____

__Evan put his hand in his mouth, trying to muffle his own response to what he was seeing. His cock was more than half-hard, and starting to grow uncomfortable in his BDU’s, but he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself by moving to rearrange himself._ _

____

__Glancing up, he could see that Rodney had his eyes closed, his mouth open, his head tilting back with the pleasure of Sheppard’s mouth doing delectable things to him. Looking back down, Evan could see Sheppard’s cheeks were drawn in by the pressure of his sucking, the bulge of Rodney’s cock visible through the wall of his mouth._ _

____

__He shook a little, moving his spare hand down to his own erection, moving it around a little to create space. He was fully hard now, and desperately wanted to open his own BDU’s and provide some friction for his eager erection, but this was so wrong. His CO was going down on the Chief Science Officer in front of him, and he should have averted his eyes the moment they started kissing._ _

____

__Suddenly Rodney gave a gasp and started to jolt and jerk, and with Evan’s gaze locked on Sheppard, he could see the deep swallows in his neck as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down._ _

____

__Rodney suddenly went limp and Sheppard pulled off him, tucking him neatly away and buttoning up his BDUs._ _

____

__He sank back onto his heels and said, “He’ll sleep for a good couple of hours now.” Then he stood slowly and moved away a little, turning to face Lorne. “I’m sorry about that, Major. It needed to be done, but I realise you’ll have to report me. I won’t be angry at you for doing so. I understand you have a responsibility.” He sat on a convenient chunk of rock and closed his eyes._ _

____

__Lorne was still reeling from what he’d just seen, his own erection rock hard in his BDU’s. His voice a little breathless he managed, “It would be totally hypocritical for me to report you for giving McKay what I’ve been fantasising about for the past six months, Sir,” he said. Then his mind actually caught up with his mouth, and he realised what he’d just said._ _

____

__He dropped his head forward, silently berating himself for having actually admitted, out loud, to his crush, to his fantasies of having his CO on his knees in front of him, pushing into his CO’s warm, wide mouth. He sank down to the floor, pulling his knees up to his face and clasping his arms around them, feeling sick to his stomach at having outed himself so thoroughly._ _

____

__There was silence in the little cave, no-one speaking or moving. After five minutes or so, the glow stick petered out and then they were sitting silently in the pitch black of the cave._ _

____

__Evan was wondering what he could say to try and fix his admission, when Sheppard’s voice came out of the darkness._ _

____

__“It was Ronon the first time, when we got lost in the caves on P7R…865? McKay wasn’t that keen on going in, but there were energy readings, so he did, but we got lost and he freaked out. We couldn’t find the way out, and he got worse and worse… Ronon’s not the most patient guy in the world and he’d clearly had enough. I thought he was going to punch Rodney, but he wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and kissed him. Freaked me the hell out. Then he undressed him and… well… you know. Rodney was asleep within seconds and Ronon just tossed him over his shoulders and said, ‘Come on then, let’s keep looking’, like nothing weird had just happened. It took us 2hrs to find the way out, and McKay was out the whole time – woke up just as we saw daylight. Didn’t act freaked out or anything. Don’t know if he talked to Ronon about it, I never said anything.”_ _

____

__Evan stayed completely silent and still, not really sure what he could say to that._ _

____

__After a minute or so, Sheppard’s voice resumed. “Then we fell through the ice on M5G-598. Ronon hit his head pretty badly and was out of it. It was a pretty narrow crevice, just a metre wide or so. You remember – you rescued us. But Rodney was freaking out, and Ronon wasn’t there, and suddenly Teyla’s kissing him, and… well… anyway, same thing. He fell asleep straight after and the silence was beautiful. Then you guys came and pulled us out, and he woke up once we were in the puddlejumper.”_ _

____

__Evan still didn’t know what to say, and after a short while, Sheppard’s voice said, “I guess it was my turn. I’ve never actually…. anyway, it seemed to work.”_ _

____

__Clearly it was time for Evan to join this peculiar conversation, so he lifted his head and said, “Like a charm, Sir. I’ve never seen anything else catch McKay’s attention enough to keep him silent.” Then he huffed out a breath. What a crap thing to say! And he just admitted he’d watched! “Sorry, Sir.”_ _

____

__“Well,” there was the sound of velcro as a pocket on the tac vest was opened, and a moment later the crack of a glowstick being activated, causing a sudden lightening of the pervading blackness, “let’s see if we can’t find a way out of here while Rodney’s occupied.”_ _

____

__Evan watched as Sheppard stood and moved towards him. He didn’t meet his eyes, but moved past him to look down the tunnel entrance that they hadn’t tried. It did not look welcoming. There was some rubble in the entrance way, and the roof was still dropping sand. “What do you think?” he asked, and Evan came to stand next to him._ _

____

__“I don’t like the idea, Sir. We can’t leave McKay here alone, and we won’t fit through there carrying him on our shoulders,” he said. “And I don’t think either of us should attempt it alone.”_ _

____

__“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Sheppard said. He turned and crossed back to the blocked exit. Another peal of thunder and more sand fell._ _

____

__“I don’t really like this much,” he said. “I’m wondering if more of that rock is likely to fall on us.”_ _

____

__Evan looked up and considered. “It looks fairly solid now, Sir. There are still cracks visible, but not nearly as many as in that smaller cave we found at the dead-end. I didn’t think to look up when we were in here before, but if it was anything like that other cave, then it’s a lot better now that this lot has fallen.”_ _

____

__The ceiling did look more stable. Whilst there were still cracks, from which sand was occasionally falling, they were much further apart, and not nearly as wide as those in the inner cave. “I think we’re safe enough. Not sure about the air quality though.”_ _

____

__“No,” Sheppard agreed, “and I don’t think we should try and dig ourselves out either, because that will use up more of our oxygen, and it’s pretty tainted with all the rock debris.”_ _

____

__In the light of the glowstick, they could see particles in the air, and it did look pretty murky._ _

____

__“Agreed,” Lorne said. “Even if Coughlin, Teyla and Ronon were caught in the rockfall, Reed and Rivers should have heard it happening and will be getting help. I know we wandered around for hours on end, but we’re not actually that far from the stargate.”_ _

____

__Sheppard nodded and sat back down on his rock. He reached into his vest and withdrew an antiseptic wipe. “Let me fix up that wound on your arm, Major,” he said, and Evan glanced down at the cut on his upper arm that had been bleeding sluggishly._ _

____

__“I can do that, Sir,” he said._ _

____

__“I’ll do your wounds and you can do mine,” Sheppard said, pointing to his face, where blood had run down his cheek from a small gash on his forehead._ _

____

__They busied themselves with first aid for some time, then Sheppard glanced over at McKay. “I don’t think Rodney’s bleeding at all. I think I took most of the knocks,” he said. He packed away the first aid supplies, then said, “He’s been out about an hour now, I think.”_ _

____

__“I hope they find us before he wakes up,” Evan said. “I’m not sure he’d like me taking my turn to calm him down!”_ _

____

__Sheppard laughed at that. “I’m not sure that he’s too picky when he’s freaking out with claustrophobia, Major,” he said, shaking his head a little._ _

____

__Evan laughed too. The whole situation felt pretty surreal._ _

____

__Suddenly there was a voice in their ears._ _

____

__“…nel Sh…on…way…s…tight…hour.”_ _

____

__Sheppard immediately tapped his radio and said, “This is Colonel Sheppard. You are breaking up. Please say again.”_ _

____

__Nothing more came through though, apart from a whole lot of static._ _

____

__“Well, I guess they know where we are and will have us out in an hour or so,” Sheppard said, stretching out his legs and leaning back against the wall of the cave._ _

____

__Silence settled back over the cave, and Evan sat on the ground, wondering how he could fix his earlier remark. Sheppard hadn’t said anything about it, or made any awkward comments, and he hadn’t been spooked around Lorne either, easily moving into his personal space to tend his wounds, letting Lorne tend to his own without seeming uncomfortable. But it still wasn’t okay to have said what he’d said about his fantasies. Eventually the silence began to get to Evan, and he decided that he may as well try to fix this now._ _

____

__“Sir, I apologise for my comment earlier. I realise –”_ _

____

__But Sheppard cut him off. “I don’t recall you saying anything inappropriate, Major,” he said, and stood and walked across to the blocked exit. He tapped his radio again. “This is Colonel Sheppard. Is anyone receiving?”_ _

____

__This time there was a response, “olonel Shep… get..closer…”_ _

____

__Sheppard turned back towards Lorne, “Well, that’s good. They’re not so far away now.”_ _

____

__He took a step back towards his rock chair, but Rodney chose that moment to start to stir. Sheppard crouched down next to him, his hand on his shoulder, then quickly rocked back on his heels, reached into his tac vest and pulled out two more glow sticks, quickly snapping them and putting them near Rodney._ _

____

__He stood then and moved back over to his rock, sitting down with a slight groan. Evan wondered briefly how badly his back had been injured by the rock that had fallen on it. He’d check him for abrasions, but apart from a couple of small cuts, there was only bruising visible._ _

____

__Rodney stirred again, and Evan saw his eyes opening. Then he sat up abruptly and said, “Are we still trapped?” His voice was tremulous, and his eyes were skittering around the cave._ _

____

__“Yeah,” Sheppard said from his seat on this rock, “but rescue is close by, Rodney. The rock is distorting the radios, but they said they’d be an hour almost an hour ago. And when I checked five minutes ago, they said they were getting close.”_ _

____

__Rodney’s eyes were huge, but he was not nearly as freaked out as he had been, sitting quietly, only his roving eyes betraying his anxiety._ _

____

__Sheppard fished around in his tac vest again, and this time pulled out an energy bar, tore the packet open and handed it to Rodney._ _

____

__Rodney began to eat, biting half the bar off on his first mouthful. Without waiting until he’d swallowed, he said, “Can we have some more light? If they’re close, we can use them, right?”_ _

____

__Evan immediately reached into his own tac vest, pulling out two more glowsticks and cracking them. He stood and moved over to Rodney, dropping them on the floor near him, making a semi-circle with the ones that Sheppard had placed._ _

____

__“Ah, thank you Major,” Rodney said, surprising Lorne, because Rodney rarely used his manners. But Rodney hadn’t finished, “Could you maybe put one behind you and one behind Sheppard, so we can all see?”_ _

____

__Evan could tell that it was actually so that Rodney didn’t feel so alone. With only his own spot illuminated, the rest of the cave would be in darkness to him, and he’d be unable to see Sheppard or himself clearly. Lorne immediately bent to pick two of the glowsticks up and handed one to Sheppard, keeping the other himself as he sat back down._ _

____

__The sound of rocks moving in the exit tunnel came clearly to them for the first time, and more sand fell through from above._ _

____

__Rodney looked up fearfully and started hyperventilating._ _

____

__Sheppard immediately stood and crossed to where Rodney was sitting. He sat down next to him, and took his hand, saying, “You’re okay, Rodney. You’re okay. They’ll be through to us very soon, and then it’ll all be wide open spaces and blue skies, buddy.”_ _

____

__Evan moved up on Rodney’s other side, sitting down close to him, and placing his hand on Rodney’s knee. “We’re all here together, McKay, and we’ll all get out together, okay. You’re safe, we’re safe and we’ll be out of here soon.”_ _

____

__They sat for a moment in silence, the three of them together, Rodney sandwiched between them, and then suddenly a rock fell in towards them from the blockage in the exit tunnel and a hand appeared with a torch in it._ _

____

__Rodney lunged forward and grabbed it. “Finally! What took you so long?” he snarked. “Bunch of useless grunts!”_ _

____

__“Hey, Rodney!” Sheppard admonished. “These are the guys that have just spent an hour digging their way in to rescue your ass. Try and be a bit nice, huh?”_ _

____

__Rodney had the grace to look a little embarrassed and shut up, but he didn’t let go of the torch._ _

____

__Evan had crossed over to the hole and was talking to the hand. He stood back up and turned to Sheppard and McKay, “We need to stand back against the far wall, Sir, Doc.”_ _

____

__The three of them moved across to the far side of their little cave, and waited, and within a few minutes, the hand-sized hole had been increased so it was large enough for someone to crawl through._ _

____

__Evan turned to Rodney and gestured for him to go._ _

____

__“Oh, no, I’m not going to be the guinea pig that tests if that hole is safe, or if the entire roof is going to fall down and crush us!” Rodney said, his eyes still wide. “You go first, Major.”_ _

____

__Evan rolled his eyes at that, but obediently moved forward, bending down and crawling through the hole. Teyla and Ronon were waiting on the other side, along with Reed, Rivers and a few other marines. Coughlin was sitting on the ground to one side of the tunnel, a bandage around his head, his arm in a sling. Lorne nodded at them, then turned and called back through the hole, “It’s all good, Sir, Doc. I can see daylight.”_ _

____

__Within a minute, Rodney’s head emerged from the hole, his body following as he crawled out the other side. Teyla moved immediately to him, talking positively and, taking his arm, led him towards the daylight._ _

____

__Evan waited until he could see Sheppard emerging safely from the hole, before moving back, giving the marines space to work._ _

____

“Thanks guys,” Sheppard said as he righted himself, standing tall, dusty and streaked with dirt, the wound-covering on his temple spotted with blood.

Evan led the way out of the tunnel and across the cave. The storm had passed, and the clouds were scudding away. The western horizon was showing clear blue sky, even though directly above them the clouds were still dark and ominous. The winds were moving them quickly and it was clear they would be able to make their way to the stargate without getting rained on. 

Evan looked across the clearing and could see Colonel Sheppard talking to McKay. Despite the risk of rain, Teyla had led Rodney straight out of the cave into the great outdoors, and he was looking much calmer. The conversation between the two men consisted of a lot of smirking by Sheppard and a lot of handwaving by McKay. _‘So, in other words, a perfectly normal conversation’ _, Evan thought and huffed quietly to himself.__

____

He turned back to the marines who had come to rescue them and thanked them for their efforts, cheerfully accepting the good-natured teasing.

____

Sheppard came across to Lorne, and said, “McKay wants us to check out that other passage, in case the mythical ZPM is at the end of it. What are your thoughts?”

____

Lorne wasn’t sure that was a great idea. “Um, I’ve been buried alive once already today, Sir. Not sure I feel like risking it a second time,” he said. “But if you think it’s worth it…”

____

Sheppard shook his head. “I think it’s going to be another dead end, and the damn energy signature will skitter off somewhere else, but he’s not going to settle until this is done. I’ll take Ronon.” 

____

As Sheppard started to turn away, Lorne reached out and grabbed his arm. “Ronon won’t fit through that hole, Sir. I’ll come. Just… let’s give those clouds another 10 minutes to fully move away before we go in.”

____

Sheppard was eyeing him intently, no doubt trying to decide if he was going to be okay, re-entering the cave where they’d been trapped.

____

“If anyone is going to be hurt or lost to this, Colonel, I’d rather it was me than one of my men,” he said. And that seemed to decide the matter, Sheppard was nodding and turning away.

____

“Right,” he called out, catching everyone’s attention. “In 10 minutes, Lorne and I are heading back into the cave. We’re going to explore that other tunnel, see if we can’t find us a ZPM. Teyla, you stay out here with McKay and Coughlin. Ronon you’re on patrol. Rivers, Reed, I’d like you and your men on this side of that hole through the debris, listening for any further rockfalls, or anything we might radio to you. Hopefully with the hole through the rocks, the radio signal won’t be as distorted as it was earlier.”

____

Lorne sat on a nearby rocky outcrop, reaching into his tac vest and pulling out a Powerbar. Best to refuel now. Coughlin approached and offered to top up his water canteen, which Lorne accepted, thinking it was best to go in prepared, since there was a risk that they may end up trapped again. He shuddered slightly. Whilst not claustrophobic like McKay, there was something distinctly uncomfortable about being stuck inside a mountain with no clear way out.

____

After a few more minutes, the clouds above them had pushed away towards the far horizon and Sheppard approached. “Ready?” he said.

____

Lorne stood immediately, patted himself down to make sure everything was where it was meant to be, and followed Sheppard across to the cave mouth.

____

“You sure, Lorne?” Sheppard asked, looking at the dark interior.

____

“Yes, Sir.” Lorne responded, not really sure about going in, but certain he wasn’t letting any of his men take this risk when it should be him.

____

Sheppard led the way, the torch he’d borrowed from Teyla lighting the way, his own having been damaged in the rockfall. Lorne had, himself, borrowed Sergeant Coughlin’s.

____

As Sheppard’s boots disappeared into the hole, Lorne started to wriggle through after him. They arrived in the cave and shone their lights around. Lorne spotted his own torch lying on the ground to the side, and picked it up. It was intact and he stowed it away in his vest.

____

“Right then,” Sheppard said, and headed for the second tunnel.

____

They clambered over some rocks in the entrance, then, once they’d cleared the debris field, the way was much easier. The tunnel was a comfortable width, not quite wide enough for two-abreast, but certainly wide enough to swing your arms and know you weren’t going to scrape them on the walls.

____

They walked for about 20 minutes, following twists and turns.

____

Lorne kept pointing his torch upwards, scanning the roof, and eventually Sheppard stopped and turned around.

____

“Are you going okay, Major?”

____

“Yeah,” Lorne replied, a bit sheepishly. It was pretty freaky walking in this tunnel in the middle of the mountain that had, not that long ago, dropped its roof on him!

____

“I don’t need you getting an attack of claustrophobia too!”

____

Lorne’s mind instantly presented images of how Sheppard managed a teammate with claustrophobia, and he shut his eyes for a moment. When he’d managed to push the mental images away, he opened them to see Sheppard’s eyes boring holes into his.

____

“I’m fine, Sir,” he said and held Sheppard’s gaze. After a few moments, Sheppard nodded and turned to continue.

____

Another 10 minutes and the tunnel started to narrow, and narrow, until they were having to suck in their bellies and go sideways, and even then, their tac vests were scraping the walls every now and then. Eventually Sheppard stopped. Turning his head – all that he could turn at this point – he said, “I think we’re done. This is just getting narrower and there’s no guarantee it’ll widen again any time soon.”

____

He carefully slid the tablet he’d been carrying up his body and tilted the screen a little towards Lorne, “The signature is still showing, but it looks like it’s moving above us now, not so much straight ahead, and this damn tunnel is getting too narrow for comfort.”

____

Lorne looked at the elusive energy signature on the screen and nodded. “I agree, Sir. This is getting us nowhere.”

____

He started to shuffle back the way they had come, one sideways step after another.

____

As the tunnel started to widen, Lorne turned and let out a long breath. “Well, that was one of the more uncomfortable things I’ve ever done.”

____

Sheppard huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I was wishing I hadn’t eaten that Powerbar, left more room for sucking in my gut!”

____

Lorne laughed with him, and they continued along the tunnel until they reached the little cave. Lorne was pretty thirsty by this stage, so he paused in the cave and opened his canteen, taking a healthy swig. Turning he saw Sheppard doing the same, his head tilted back, the long clean line of his neck showing, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. Evan felt his body responding to that, a clear picture in his mind of Sheppard swallowing McKay’s cum. He shook his head to banish the thought, and turned to crawl through the hole to the outside world, feeling Sheppard coming up behind him. 

____

And after that, there was nothing to do but hike back to the gate.

____

Back on Atlantis, Evan was sitting on a bed in the infirmary waiting for his turn to be checked out post-mission. Carson had started with McKay, at Sheppard’s insistence, then had moved on to Sheppard himself because of his head wound, and because he’d had a rock land on his back – a fact that Evan had revealed when Sheppard had managed to ‘forget’ to mention it. He’d earned a hard glare from his CO for that, but he was unrepentant.

____

____Carson finally finished up with Sheppard, insisting that he stay overnight for observation, even though the head wound was very slight. Sheppard had rolled his eyes, but Carson wouldn’t budge._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Evan wasn’t too worried about his own injuries. He had various bumps and bruises, and a few cuts, but nothing to concern the doctor – or at least he hoped so. And he was proven right. After 15 minutes of poking and prodding, some swiping and wiping and applying of waterproof dressings, Carson declared him fit to leave._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Rodney had already left in search of food and Teyla had gone with him. Ronon was sitting by Sheppard’s bed, his boots up on the edge, looking as if he meant to stay the night there._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Evan hopped off his own bed and made his way across to Sheppard’s, meeting his eyes, his own worried and uncertain. Now they were back on Atlantis, he really didn’t know what Sheppard was going to do about his revelation in the cave. Obviously, while they were still on the mission, he hadn’t said or done anything to discipline or chastise Evan, putting the needs of the mission first, but now they were safely home, and clearly, he couldn’t just ignore Evan’s declaration._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Looking into Sheppard’s eyes, he wondered what was going to happen, and found himself biting his bottom lip, worry rising up inside him. But Sheppard just said, “Rest up Major, you’ll have to handle all the paperwork until my head is declared better,” and smirked at him._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Evan felt his tension melting away, and he smiled back, saying, “So no change then, Sir?”_ _ _ _

____

____

____

____The Colonel’s smirk turned into a smile. “Get out and leave me in peace, Major.”_ _ _ _

____

____

____

____So, Evan did. He left the infirmary, went to the mess and had some dinner, then went off to his room, had a lovely, long, hot shower, and fell into bed._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____When he finally woke the next morning and headed to the mess for breakfast, he saw that Sheppard had been released from the infirmary and was tucking into a stack of pancakes, chatting and laughing with his team._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____And nothing changed. Nothing at all. When he needed to get the Colonel to sign various pieces of paperwork, or discuss operational matters, he was his usual laid-back self. There were no changes in the way he looked at Evan, or smirked at him, or shoved various jobs onto him. Sheppard didn’t give him any more, or any less, of the less comfortable jobs, taking his own share as usual. He included him in jokes, just as he always had, and didn’t pull him metaphorically closer or push him any further away._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____It was very confusing, and Evan didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he was very relieved that he wasn’t being transferred off Atlantis because of the rules of fraternisation, or being court martialled under DADT. But on the other hand, he almost felt disheartened that Sheppard had not once, by word or gesture, acknowledged Evan’s feelings. He had completely ignored Evan’s comment about fantasising about his CO and blow jobs, and that was kind of depressing for a man in love. In the end he decided that not losing his place on Atlantis was the best outcome, and he felt grateful that he still had the chance to be around Sheppard, enjoying his company, seeing him at odd moments throughout the day, knowing he was happy and healthy. It was enough._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____A month went past, a month in which Evan went on missions and was mildly injured and recovered and ate and practised at the shooting range and went to the base movie night and sparred with Ronon. A month in which life carried on 100% as normal. Evan felt as if he’d dodged a bullet, and eventually he forgot the whole debacle and went on with his life._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____On their team’s latest mission, Reed had missed his footing as they crossed a river and had rolled his ankle, falling into the water and being carried a fair way downstream before they’d managed to get past him and hook him to shore. He was chilled and shaking, his ankle so sore he couldn’t put any weight on it, and his head and arm bleeding where they’d been struck by rocks on his journey down the river. He and Coughlin had supported Reed back to the stargate, while Rivers had gone ahead, dialling the ‘gate and requesting medical support be waiting in the ‘gate room for them. Fortunately, they’d only been about a mile from the ‘gate when the accident had happened._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Reed was in the infirmary and destined to stay for a day or two, and once Evan had debriefed, he’d had himself a lovely hot shower, to replace the cold clamminess caused by Reed’s clothes soaking through his own as he’d helped him along. And now it was late afternoon, and Evan had nothing to do. The Doc had recommended he relax for the rest of the day, so Evan dug out his easel and paints and, taking a fresh new canvas with him, he made his way to a secluded balcony overlooking the western sky, where the sun would soon by setting._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____He set up the easel in the perfect spot and began to paint in the edges of the city that he could see from his vantage point. After an hour or so, the sun began to creep towards the horizon, creating a glorious cascade of colours amongst the scattered clouds, reds and oranges, purples and indigos, golds and peaches. It was truly a wonderous sight, and Evan gazed and painted and gazed and painted, his soul soaring with the glory of the evening._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____He was still going more than 40 minutes later, capturing every colour he could see, horizon to horizon, when he felt a sudden movement in the air around him. Immediately alert to the possible threat, he swung around, armed with his paint brush, to discover Sheppard, leaning against the railing near him, looking at his painting._ _ _ _

____

____

____

____“Very nice, Major,” the Colonel said, “especially those purples, close to the ocean there.”_ _ _ _

____

____

____

____Lorne nodded, “It’s a beautiful shade,” he agreed. “Did you want something, Sir?” Sheppard rarely, if ever, sought his company unless there was something of an operational nature to discuss.____

____

_______ _ _ _

____

The Colonel didn’t respond, just gazing at the picture for a long moment, before turning back to the railing, resting his hands on the top rail and staring out at the glories of the sunset.

____

_______ _ _ _

____

After a couple of minutes, Evan went back to painting, because he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to catch this on canvas. 

____

_______ _ _ _

____

Half an hour passed, and the sun was disappearing off the edge of the world when Evan drew in a deep breath, smiled at his creation, and put down his paint brush. 

____

_______ _ _ _

____

He glanced over at his CO, but Sheppard was still in exactly the same place, casually lounging against the railing and gazing out to sea.

____

_______ _ _ _

____

Evan started to pack up, putting his brushes to wash and packing up the paints. The easel packed up and ready to go, Evan reached for the brushes and gave them a final rinse, then realised that Sheppard had turned and was leaning his back against the railing, watching him.

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____He turned to face him, raising an eyebrow in silent question, asking what he was doing there._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Sheppard looked down, up, down, away, back to meet his eyes for a brief second, then over his shoulder._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Evan narrowed his eyes, wondering what was happening. Then it hit him, and he suddenly straightened, realising that the guillotine blade was about to fall. He wondered why it had taken a month – Sheppard could easily have had him thrown into the Brig immediately, or have put him on restricted duty. For that matter, the Daedalus had come and gone just the last week, and clearly, he could have been on it, heading back to Earth at this precise moment, all set for a dishonourable discharge. Perhaps the Colonel had wanted to see if he could stand to keep working with him, to see if he could manage to keep Evan as his XO, but, for whatever reason, he’d now decided that he couldn’t._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Evan took a deep breath. “Sir,” he started but Sheppard brought his eyes to meet Evan’s and interrupted him._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____“No,” he said._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Evan looked at him in confusion. “No what, Sir?”_ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Sheppard looked away again, and then suddenly turned to him, meeting his eyes head on and asked, “Did you mean what you said, Evan?” he asked._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

____Evan startled. He hadn’t even been aware that Sheppard knew what his first name was. To hear him call him by it, instead of the usual ‘Major’ or ‘Lorne’ felt strange – a nice strange – but still, very peculiar._ _ _ _

____

_______ _ _ _

____

“In the cave,” John clarified when Evan had been silent for over a minute.

____

_______ _ _ _

____

“Um,” Evan said intelligently, then gathered himself together. If this was it, he was going to go out with dignity. “Well, yes, Sir, I did. But I’m sorry for saying it, it’s clearly made you uncomfortable and I shouldn’t have told you.”

____

_______ _ _ _

____

Sheppard shook his head, then turned to the side, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. Finally, he turned back to Evan, chewing on his bottom lip. 

____

_______ _ _ _

____

“Not ‘Sir’, John,” he said.

____

_______ _ _ _

____

Evan stood frozen. Was that what it sounded like? “Um,” he said again, “Are you… do you mean… what are you saying, Sir? John?” 

____

_______ _ _ _

____

Sheppard looked to the side and said, “I’ve thought about what you said, a lot, since the cave-in. I… you know I’ve never… I’m not… I don’t… I… _fuck _!” He shook his head, and looked down at his feet.__

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

Evan felt himself beginning to hope. “Can I interpret that to mean you found what I said interesting on a…. personal level, Sir? John?” Again he had to correct himself. 

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______John looked up, meeting his eyes, and nodding. Then his eyes slid to the side. “I’ve never…”_ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______“I know,” Evan said. “You mentioned that in the cave. Can I ask why, then, now…?_ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______“Just because I’ve never... doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it.”_ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______A thrill ran through Evan. “Do you mean you’ve thought about it in general, or you’ve thought about it with me?” he asked, unsure if John would actually answer._ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______John’s eyes flicked up. “You,” he said, his voice sounding half-strangled. He suddenly turned and faced out to the ocean._ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______Evan put the last of the paintbrushes that he had held, bunched in his hand, down, and moved to the railing. He stood close to John, close enough to feel the warmth of his body all along his side. He placed his hands on the railing next to John’s, then inched his right hand closer, until it was touching John’s left hand._ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

______After a while, John reached out and enclosed Evan’s hand in the warmth of his own. He squeezed lightly, still looking out over the ocean._ _ _ _ _ _

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

“What about DADT, Sir? What about fraternisation?” Evan asked. 

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

John took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he turned to face Evan. “Well, I’ve thought about that a lot too. We’re a long way from Earth, a long way from rules that restrict who we can want, who we... care about,” he said. “We’d have to be very careful. I don’t want to give Caldwell any leverage to get rid of me, but I also don’t want to live by rules I don’t agree with.” He let go of Evan’s hand, stepping back a little.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

“Fraternisation is harder to set aside… but the only way to post you out of my chain of command would be to send you back to Earth, and that’s not a reasonable solution. Atlantis needs you here. Your gene is the second strongest that we have, and you’re a seasoned Pegasus-warrior, very competent and capable against the Wraith. From an operational standpoint, you need to remain here. So do I. For all those same reasons.” John paused, gazing out across the darkened skies, the stars starting to appear.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

Evan processed what Sheppard had said, and found that he agreed. “So, given that neither of us can leave, it really doesn’t matter whether we act on what we’re feeling, or not. Because even if we do nothing, we’re still feeling the same feelings.” 

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

John swung suddenly back to Evan. “It’d be damn hard to order you to your death now, Major. I can’t imagine it’ll be any harder doing that if I’ve hugged you, or kissed you, or…” his voice trailed off.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

Evan took a step closer. “I agree. With everything you said. I’ve felt like this for over 7 months, and I’ve still followed all your orders, done everything I’m meant to do. I can’t promise to leave you to die somewhere, if I’m the only one I’m saving by leaving though.” He shook his head slightly, “But that’s how I feel already, having you closer isn’t going to make that any worse.”

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

John looked him in the eyes, held his gaze. “With McKay…” he stopped. Took a breath. Started again, “Look, all evidence to the contrary, I don’t do casual, Evan. I don’t do open relationships or one-night stands or hooking up for the sake of pure sex. Given all the rules we’d be breaking, I’m not… it’s not just…” Evan held his gaze steady, his heart singing with happiness to hear that. John took another deep breath, turning his head away.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

“But look, I can’t promise that I won’t… with McKay… if he needs…” 

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

“It’s okay. I understand. Team comes first. If he needs you, then you’re going to help him. It doesn’t have to affect this, affect us.” And Evan did understand. He’d hate to think of McKay being trapped somewhere like that cave-in, and John holding back because he didn’t want to cheat on Evan, leaving Rodney to suffer the horrors of his claustrophobia without the relief that John could have offered.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

John nodded. “Okay, then.” He reached out his hand and linked it with Evan’s, interlocking their fingers. Pulling him closer, he turned them to face the ocean, the stars glittering overhead, their light casting faint silver trails on the water below them. 

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

“Okay, then,” he repeated. Then he turned and brought his free hand up to cup Evan’s cheek, leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, a gentle promise for the future.

____

_________ _ _ _ _ _

____

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos if you liked it and feel free to leave a comment too :)


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